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The Legal Department of the Future February 2016 LocalGovernmentLawyer16 The Legal Department of the Future survey paints a picture of ever-rising demand for local authority legal services but static or diminishing resources being made available to deal with it. While according to Law Society figures the number of solicitors employed in local government in England and Wales has remain largely unchanged over the past five years compared with the drop of 21 in overall local government employment between 2010 and 2015 identified by the ONS demand for legal services is still outstripping supply. Moreover demand is expected to keep growing. Forty-four per cent of the 100 heads of legal that took part in the survey expected to see a significant increase more than 10 in legal work in the foreseeable future and a further 37 anticipated an increase of at least 5. Despite this only 34 of respondents expected to increase the number of lawyers they employ and close to the same proportion 31 expected the numbers of lawyers in their teams to shrink. At the same time the majority of respondents 54 expected the budget available for external legal services to shrink compared with just 8 that predicted a rise. The top concern unsurprisingly for heads of legal that took part in the survey was cost control included in the top three challenges by 69 of respondents and more than a quarter said that defending the department from cutbacks remained one of their key challenges five years on from the Comprehensive Spending Review that introduced the swingeing cuts that local government has endured. The Legal Department of the Future survey highlights some serious challenges for legal departments their staff and clients. Local Government Lawyer convened a roundtable of legal services leaders to identify how some of these issues can be addressed. Derek Bedlow reports. The way ahead Attendees Derek Bedlow Publisher Local Government Lawyer Tanya Corsie Director and Chief Operating Officer IKEN Jill Coule Head of Corporate Legal Services Sefton Borough Council Paul Cummins Head of Legal and Democratic Services Horsham District Council Paul Evans Assistant Director of Governance and Head of the South London Legal Partnership Helen Edwards Director and Head of Public Sector Team Kennedy Cater Doreen Forrester Brown Director of Law and Democracy London Borough of Southwark Philip Hoult Editor Local Government Lawyer Angela Hutchings Assistant Director - Law and Operations Essex Legal Services Anne Kingsley Professional Support Lawyer LexisNexis Andrew Kinsey Legal Services Manager Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council Victoria McNeill Head of Law Norfolk County Council Jayne Middleton-Albooye Head of Legal Services London Borough of Enfield Debra Norman Assistant Chief Executive Governance and Human resources London Borough of Islington Neil Smith Market Development Director Public Sector LexisNexis David Tatlow Director of Legal and Democratic Services Birmingham City Council Linda Walker Business Development Manager HB Public Law Elizabeth Warhurst Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer North West Leicestershire District Council.